Everyone has an internal critical voice. It’s the one that tells you that you’ll never be good enough, doubts your decisions and laments all of your flaws. This voice can be particularly loud if you’ve had a difficult upbringing, been victimized by bullies or struggled with an abusive relationship.

Most of the time, you won’t even realize that your inner critic is undermining your self-love and your happiness. It can perniciously lower your vibration and undermine your ability to attract good things. Thankfully, it is possible to become more mindful of self-critical thoughts and slowly begin to stop your harsh inner critic. Here are some practical strategies you can use to facilitate self-empowerment and self-love.

1. Find The Roots Of Your Self-Critical Thoughts

Therapists sometimes encourage their clients to voice the words of their harsh inner critic, replacing “I” with “you”. So, for example, if you often think “I’ll never amount to anything at work and I can’t do anything right”, try phrasing this is “You’ll never amount to anything and you never do anything right”.

When you do this, you may find you remember where this lack of self-respect comes from (e.g. it may be the voice of a teacher or a parent).

This new self-knowledge gives you an opening to work on discrediting the views of that figure from your past.

2. Figure Out Your Low Self-Esteem Triggers

Each inner critic is also fueled by different things.

If you can work out precisely what sparks self-hatred in you, you can actually pre-empt its destructive words by deliberately doing something to shift your focus on emphasizing your self-love.

Try keeping a notebook with you for a couple of weeks and writing down your triggers.

At the end of those two weeks, write down ideas that will help you mediate the impact of these triggers.

3. Examine Irrational Judgements About Others

When we dislike something about ourselves, we sometimes project that loathed trait onto other people so that we can attack it more effectively. As such, your negative judgments about friends, family or colleagues may give you a clue about the roots of your own self-critical thoughts, making it easier to see what you need to do to feel better.

So you catch yourself thinking badly about someone, take a moment to ask yourself whether (deep down) you see your own personality in the same way.

4. Talk Yourself Out Of A Bad Mood

The next time you begin to feel gloomy or self-conscious, combat your harsh inner critic by deliberately speaking to yourself in a kind, compassionate way. This can be done out loud if you’re alone, and in the form of affirmations recited into a mirror (many of your Law of Attraction affirmations will work very well for this purpose).

Meanwhile, if you’re in public, simply reassure yourself in your own head. Try phrases like “I deserve to be confident and happy” and “This is just a temporary setback and I know I can get past this.”

5. Isolate Genuine Areas For Self-Improvement

Learning to stop self-critical thinking isn’t about being totally blind to anything about your personality that needs work.

In fact, it’s a lot harder to shut down your critical voice in the long-term if your self-help strategy is about pushing down awareness of anything negative.

Instead, come up with a few things that you would like to work on, and phrase them in terms of a positive goal (e.g. “I will become more punctual” or “I will practice being patient at work”). There’s always room for personal development, and it doesn’t need to be something that makes you feel bad!

6. Try To View Yourself As Others Do

You may find it is easier to stop being so hard on yourself if you make a concerted effort to see yourself through the eyes of those who love and value you.

Some people find it helpful to write a list of some of the recent compliments they’ve received, while others prefer a creative visualization exercise where they attempt to imagine themselves as their partner or best friend sees them.

In many cases, there is a huge gap between self-image and the perception others have of us, and being mindful of this gap can help self-love to grow.

7. Take Good Care Of Yourself

Finally, if you’re emotionally or physically drained then it’s a lot easier for your critical inner voice to take charge of your mental life and start making you feel bad. Maintain an awareness of your energy levels at all times, and know when you need to say “no” to an extra commitment in order to practice some good old-fashioned self-care.

Katherine Hurst used to live a normal life until something happened that changed her life forever. She discovered the Law of Attraction and began a new, life-changing chapter. She now runs the world's largest Law of Attraction community with millions of followers. Her mission is to share her own experiences to inspire change and happiness in the lives of all.